UM picks for 2005

[SonOfNun]

- Blood Red Throne can be in the top 5, but there are still several better death metal bands walking the earth: Nile, Dismember, Bolt Thrower (this one is close), and possibly Melechesh & Rudra (I just don't know them well enough to say for sure)

Like I said earlier, it's based on the fact that not only are Blood Red Throne about the most fun band to listen to, but their music sticks with you afterward. These are riffs that get stuck in my head and the groove is overwhelming. Of course, it's all a matter of opinion, but Melechesh and Rudra both seem completely forgettable to me and so does Dismember and I own albums by all three bands. I just recently bought Honour, Valour, Pride from Bolt Thrower and listened to it a little, but I don't think it will compare. As for Nile, I like them, but their music is hardly as enjoyable and not very memorable. Good band and I'm going to see them live soon (mainly to see Decapitated who also own all these bands) but none of those bands really left me with anything.

And what the fuck is wrong with Asguard? Honestly, I think they're a great band with a lot of good riffs and music packed with melody. They also got experimental and had a few nice ambient passages on the last album and I think the title is a good fit. Their previous work is a lot more aggressive, but Dreamslave is still good stuff.

And JayK hit the nail on the head with the atmosphere of that Opeth album. It's just a bright, warm album and different from anything they've done. I love it.

J: For some reason Samael always strikes me as gay, though I haven't heard anything from them. I suppose it's just their later work I've heard about and I guess they have a least one album hailed as a classic. Weren't they fairly traditional black metal or am I thinking of something else?

 

[MadeInNewJersey]

And what the fuck is wrong with Asguard? Honestly, I think they're a great band with a lot of good riffs and music packed with melody. They also got experimental and had a few nice ambient passages on the last album and I think the title is a good fit. Their previous work is a lot more aggressive, but Dreamslave is still good stuff.

I'm PRAYING to god their earlier stuff is better, b/c I have "Black FireBlade" or whatever the fuck it's called, but haven't heard it yet. But "Dreamslave" is honestly the single worst album I heard from 2005. Talk about by-the-numbers shitty "black" metal. Kindergarten riffs + "dreamy" (read: bad In Flames-style) keyboards = poop.

 

[Nate The Great]

Opeth17: I also think you would WORSHIP Samael 'Ceremony of Opposites'. You can get it pretty cheap at half.com or ebay.

 

[SonOfNun]

I'm PRAYING to god their earlier stuff is better, b/c I have "Black FireBlade" or whatever the fuck it's called, but haven't heard it yet. But "Dreamslave" is honestly the single worst album I heard from 2005. Talk about by-the-numbers shitty "black" metal. Kindergarten riffs + "dreamy" (read: bad In Flames-style) keyboards = poop.

Did you actually LISTEN to the album? I mean, this really has NOTHING in common with your shitty modern-day Dimmu Borgir "black metal" scene or In Flames/Soilwork melodeath gayness and I really can't hear where those comparisons would come from. The way the keyboards are used actually reminds me a lot more of bands like Ensiferum that use them for emphasis, not as an obnoxious lead instrument ala Children of Bodom. Yes, the riffs are quite melodic, but I think that's hardly reason to group them in with all the shitty bands that use melodic riffs. They get downright thrashy sometimes and I'm no tech guitarist, but I fail to see how the riffs are "kindergarten." I would go back and listen to the title track and the following song "Masquerade." I thought those songs were constructed in a pretty epic manner and I think they are a good example of how the keyboards are integrated into the music very well. That and the final song, "Where Once the Moon Rose, which is a darker, ambient-like piece with some folk instruments that any Nile fan should like. I dunno, I mean, I can see people not being fans of this, but that description you gave makes it sound like you tossed it on once for a couple of minutes and that was it. But, if you don't like it, oh well.

The album before Dreamslave, Wikka, is a lot more aggressive and death/thrash oriented while Dreamslave IS way out in left field, so even if you don't like their latest, the previous stuff is pretty different and I think better. I also have Black Fire Land and it's even more different than Wikka. Though I haven't listened to it much, I did get the feeling that back then they actually were trying a black metal sound, but it's BM in the more traditional sense and the album has a much rougher production and isn't real frilly like Dreamslave. I think you'll like Black Fire Land, might like Wikka and will probably continue to hate Dreamslave.

 

[MadeInNewJersey]

I listened to it several times in fact, and I'd compare it to the new(est) Old Man's Child. You can search this very forum for my thoughts on that.

I'm still completely open to their earlier albums, so that's good to know (what you wrote).

 

[circus_brimstone]

@ Josh: Your list is in the official thread, now.

@ Everyone else: Please disregard this post. In fact, never mention it again.

 

[J.]

J: For some reason Samael always strikes me as gay, though I haven't heard anything from them. I suppose it's just their later work I've heard about and I guess they have a least one album hailed as a classic. Weren't they fairly traditional black metal or am I thinking of something else?

Man, first Graveland is gay because of the way Darken dresses and now Samael is gay because of their later craps? AND YOU"VE NEVER HEARD EITHER???? (yeah OK, you fit in this forum)

Put it this way, Pretty much everything TPH has done, was done back in '94 and '96 by Samael. The whole dark, evil, sinister, industrial, big riffs, cool vocals thing was near perfect on CoO and Passage. Just minus the female vocals. There is a reason those two are classics. This was of course before they went shit.

 

[Erik]

samael pre-passage (and some of passage) KILLS. here's two tracks to DOWNLOAD!

REBELLION http://s30.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=2TY9NJISU4CE217BHYHTUCEGWG
BAPHOMET'S THRONE http://s30.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=2KLGV0GTTN18F2VLQVMWRXJJZD

a crown of thorns is still a crown!

yeah and samael were black metal fucking PIONEERS. way back in fuckin 1987-1991, before most of the norwegian bands, samael was EVIL AS FUCK. they were better in their mid period though imo


EDIT: the drummer was just AWESOME before they started with the drum programming. this is GROOVE without the GAY. he seems to delay accented beats deliberately for like a feeeeeew milliseconds to create a sense of drive that is just fucking amazing

 

[J.]

i'm trying to get samael's early stuff, and i'll prolly settle for the 1987-1991 re-release thing